Motegi MotoGP: Nicky Hayden unhappy with Yuki Takahashi

American Nicky Hayden blasted home rookie Yuki Takahashi as his factory Ducati nightmare continued in Japan.

Scot Honda RC212V rider Takahashi torpedoed Hayden out of the 24-lap race at just the third corner, on board TV footage showing clearly that the Japanese rider was at fault.

Hayden aggravated the back injury he suffered in a 130mph qualifying high-side during the first race in Qatar and he said: “That was exactly what we didn’t need. I got a decent start and I think I was up a couple of positions but just going down into the hairpin, which is a slow hard-braking corner, I was on my line and Takahashi just took me down. There was no warning – I didn’t even hear anything! I don’t want to say much about that, I don’t want to look like a cry-baby but, you know, it was the first lap… luckily I feel okay. I actually landed in the same place on my back as the crash in Qatar and my leathers and helmet have got exactly the same marks. It’s a shame because this weekend I honestly felt we were making some progress. I felt we had better communication going on and we worked more comfortably from the first day. I know we were never looking at a great result but I felt I could have been competitive.”

Takahashi did apologise, though Hayden confirmed the sorry was a reluctant one as he called the former 250GP rider over as he was stretchered into an ambulance.
Takahashi said: “Out at the very beginnibg of the race… what a pity. Not only for the race itself, but especially because I needed to make laps to learn and improve. I was in a group of riders, more or less all of us at the same speed, then the collision happened under braking. I’m really sorry”.